It's October 2008. Children of the future, take note

A recap of the year so far. (the latter half, at least.)

The Orioles, sadly, didn't come close.

The global economy has swerved into a credit freeze disaster because of an excess of unwise investments and a shortage of trusting lenders or investors. My parents' retirement account has been cut in half. The bogeymen in all this? Subprime loans turned to mortgage-backed securities, known as complex financial instrument, sometimes known as derivatives. Dress up like THAT for Halloween.

Barack Obama has everyone's hopes awful high.

And, finally, gratifyingly, a woman from Alaska has electrified and united not just the Republican base, but EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD. An electorate stands in rapt, fearsome attention, reminiscent of the days of -- never. Sputtering comedy careers have found new life.

Yesterday, Frontline fabulously profiled both Obama -- the community organizer who early on in his career inspired many with the stolen Cesar Chavez labor slogan: Yes We Can! -- and John McCain, the prisoner of war and former hottie who stumbled into a beer heiress and an impressive political career. It's a historic election, no doubt.

But I propose that it is not too early (and not a jinx) to bring up the long-term prospects of an Obama win. Glenn Greenwald does it well:

Nonetheless, it's worth underscoring -- in fact, it's vital to keep in mind -- that the option of politically empowering Democrats is the opposite of a panacea. The Democratic Party structure in Washington, and particularly its leadership in Congress, is more corrupted and destructive than anything else there is -- with the exception of the right-wing faction that has been running the country for the last eight years. Contrary to the inane conventional Beltway wisdom that bipartisanship is oh-so-tragically scarce, Democrats as an entity have, over and over, passively acquiesced to, and frequently actively enabled and participated in, many of the worst abuses of the last eight years. Their leadership in Congress is corrupt and craven to the bone in many of the same ways the GOP leadership has been -- and they're about to be far more entrenched and their power far less checked.

Not to be negative or anything.